


Becoming Good

by Baneismydragon



Series: Mean People don't deserve a Miraculous. [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Friendship, Gen, I had a lot of Adrikins/Chloe friendship feels, Introspection, Morality, Redemption, What it means to be a good person, surprisingly deep crack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-13
Updated: 2016-10-13
Packaged: 2018-08-22 06:21:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8275877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baneismydragon/pseuds/Baneismydragon
Summary: Ladybug’s words echoed in her ears and she clung tighter to the boy beside her.“Adri-bear?”“Yes Chloe?” Adrien sighed, his voice darkening in annoyance at the nickname.“Am I a good person?” 
~~~~In the wake of a particularly nasty akuma attack, Chloe is forced to re-evaluate her views on people. Including herself.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So for those of you who are following my other stories and going: What the heck is this? Well this is the result of my laptop being damaged and the THREE FINISHED CHAPTERS I was literally about to start posting when I tripped on the power cable and broke it being trapped on it until I get it back from the repair shop. So in the meantime here is how I am cheering myself up! With some oneshots! 
> 
> This story is inspired by one of the most recent "NOT SPOILERS" from Thomas Astruc's twitter. 
> 
> Enjoy and more notes at the end!

**Anyone can become good with enough Garlic and Butter** \- Thomas Astruc. 

 

 

It’s amazing when you find yourself held captive by a rampaging monster how much time you actually have to think.

By now Chloe was used to being at the center of an akuma attack. She was an extremely important person after all. Plus as Ladybug’s best friend it was only to be expected that she would more often than not find herself a target of Hawkmoth’s minions.

But this time was different.

Not the akuma part- that was all pretty par for the course. A particularly hideous underclassman had tried to crash the elaborate end of term party she had arranged at the Palace hotel in order to confess her undying love to Adrien. As if some pimple faced vulture nosed troll was good enough to be with her Adri-chou.

The boy in question had thankfully been out of the room answering a phone call from his father when Sabrina had caught the little trespasser, or who knows what sort of painfully awkward overly polite let down she would have been forced to suffer through.

Instead Chloe had wasted no time putting the delusional little upstart in her place, crumpling the nauseating confession letter the girl had been toting (as if he would ever settle for a girl too pathetic to even handle a proper conversation- that’s right I’m looking at you Marinette Dupain-Cheng) and informing the brat in no uncertain terms that she had a snowballs chance in hell of ever being with Adrien. The mousy blonde girl had run crying from the room somewhere around Chloe’s protestation that she would sooner be deep fried in butter and garlic and force fed to rabid wolves than allow her best friend to suffer through someone as unbearably loathsome as the fashion challenged teen before her.

Of course little miss goody-goody Marinette and her faithful sidekicks, who had only been invited as a courtesy to Adrien, had thrown a fit. They had angrily shouted at her during her lecture, almost drowning out a few of her more clever witticisms. Marinette had predictably run off after the crying adolescent probably to coax her into a mutual pity party where they could both drool over the latest issue of ‘Gabriel’, and Chloe would have been more than happy to just say a well-deserved good riddance to the both of them. But no, her obnoxious little Ladyblog friend and her insufferable boyfriend just HAD to stick around and tell Adrikins all about what had happened, prompting yet another hurried scolding from her best friend before he likewise went chasing after them.

Less than two minutes later the akuma had appeared and Chloe had found herself once again getting carted off to some abandoned building or other to ‘suffer for her atrociousness.’

Soon enough she was dangling over a giant boiling pot of garlic and butter waiting for the inevitable arrival of Ladybug.

Her heroine had not let her down, bursting on the scene with her pet cat in tow and cleverly putting out the roaring flame as Chat Noir battled against the akuma.

Unfortunately, before Ladybug had a chance to untie her, both Chat and the Akuma had gone crashing out the window. So naturally she had been forced to go after them. But when Ladybug finally came back into release her the spotted hero had looked surprisingly upset.

“Chloe? Are you still here?”

“Thank God.” Chloe stated, “Hurry up and get me down from here these ropes are starting to hurt. What took so long anyways?”

“It didn’t work.”

“What?”

“The Lucky Charm. I didn’t have time to use it before I had to de-transform so I had to leave him.” Ladybug rambled, clearly more for her own benefit that for Chloe’s. “By the time I got back… she said if I followed her that… and now he’s gone. She’s got him and it’s all my fault!”

“Huh?”

“She took Chat. He wasn’t even conscious and there was blood… there was so much blood.” Ladybug drew in a shuddering breath as she tried to pull at the knots holding the rope. Chloe wasn’t even sure that the girl was aware that they were still in the same room given how distracted she was.

“Stop freaking out, it’s not like it even matters.”

Chloe felt the rope that had been holding her aloft go slack and she fell the few feet into the giant cauldron of liquid below. She let out a horrified cry as the gooey melted butter soaked her designer clothes and clung to her skin.

“Eww! Ladybug you dropped me!”

“How could you.” Ladybug growled, and Chloe was surprised to see the hero glaring down at her with angry tears in her eyes.

“Ladybug?”

“How could even YOU be so awful! He’s saved this city, he’s saved YOU more times than I can count. And now he’s hurt, and bleeding and he could… he could…” She trailed off clearly distraught.

Chloe let out an exasperated sigh at the unnecessary worry of it all. After all, as long as Ladybug was fine nothing that happened during the akuma attacks mattered.

“Come on,” she said blithely,  “you know how the drill works, once you use the miraculous cure everything will be just fine so even if something happens it’s not like it’s that big of a deal.”

Ladybugs face contorted into a furious snarl as she let out a wordless howl of frustrated fury.

“Relax. I mean it’s just Chat Noir after all. As your friend-“

“You are NOT my friend! You aren’t even a good person!” Ladybug shouted the tears finally pooling down her cheeks as she unleashed the full weight of her stress induced wrath. “And if everything will be ‘just fine’ after the miraculous cure than there is no point in me wasting time rescuing someone as horrible and rotten as you when I could be saving my partner!” And without even a backwards glance Ladybug pulled out her Yo-yo and swung off.

So now here she was- hands still tied up and trapped in a giant pot full of lukewarm garlic and butter- with nothing to do but think.

…

 

When the glowing swarm of ladybugs finally rushed past Chloe suddenly found herself safely back on the rooftop deck of the Palace Hotel, her outfit thankfully restored to its original glory.

She walked over to the railing and peered out across the Paris skyline.

A few minutes later she heard footsteps running up the stairs and the heavy metal door swung open.

“Chloe! are you alright?”

She didn’t bother to turn towards her visitor, instead cataloging the colors of the darkening clouds and wondering how many shoes in her collection could match them.

“Chloe?”

“I’m fine Adrien.”

“Are you sure?” He ask, still struggling to catch his breath from his frantic flight up the stairs. “I heard that Ladybug left you trapped in-“

“I said I’m fine. The miraculous cure fixes everything you know that Adrikins.”

He didn’t say anything, instead pulling her into a gentle hug.

Chloe leaned into him, wrapping her arms securely around his waist and deciding to push her luck by nuzzling her nose against his neck. It was a testament to how worried he must be that he didn’t shy away from embrace as he normally would whenever she did anything that pushed past the boundaries of platonic friendship.

“How did you know that I had gotten trapped?” Chloe asked softly, hoping to keep him distracted so that she could enjoy this rare display of intimacy.

“Oh. I ran in to Chat Noir after the akuma attack. He knew that we were friends and ask me to check on you.”

“Oh.” Chloe stomped down the fleeting feeling of disappointment at the hope that perhaps Ladybug had been the one to send Adrien her way. After all, she had been at the center of enough battles to see firsthand that Ladybug, like so many of the rest of the girls their age, had a definite soft spot for the charming model, so it wouldn’t be all that surprising for her to approach him.

In some of her more generous moments Chloe had even been willing to consider encouraging the connection. Adrien was far too much of a romantic not to fall victim to some damsel or other, and who better for him to fawn over than her super powered idol? It was certainly a better match than the other girls who desperately trailed after him at their school, like Lila or Aurora or god forbid Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

After all, it’s not like Chloe minded if Adrien had other interests- she was willing to admit that Adrien wasn’t likely to ever be hopelessly in love with her- just so long as he never left her. As long as in some way he was still _hers_. That could be good enough for Chloe. She was his first friend, his BEST friend (no matter what that wannabe musician might say on the subject), and while he might not be IN love with her, she knew that he definitely still loved her. 

Love meant something to Adrien. It meant more than presents and money and false flattery. Love was more to him than how useful you could be. Love was more than the pretty picture you saw for maybe 20 minutes a day and blindly doted on without ever really bothering to get to know. To Adrien love was something that you never stop giving. Love was endless lectures on the phone after school about the need to be nicer or more sensitive, but still bothering to call in the first place despite a far busier schedule than her own. Even at his most exasperated, Adrien never abandon her. He was too good for that.

Ladybug’s words echoed in her ears and she clung tighter to the boy beside her.

“Adri-bear?”

“Yes Chloe?” Adrien sighed, his voice darkening in annoyance at the nickname.

“Am I a good person?”

The silence that followed her words cut like a knife and for the first time in a long time she felt genuine tears welling up behind her eyes. At least he hadn’t lied to her.

Of course that wasn’t really his style.

Adrien let out a soft sigh. “You aren’t a _bad_ person Chloe, but you don’t really make much of an effort to be a good one either.”

Ouch.

“So, that’s you’re polite way of saying that I’m as terrible as your little friends think I am.”

“No, I’m saying that you _could_ be a good person if you tried.”

He started to pull away from her, apparently having reach the limit of how long he would stay in such an arguably romantic posture.

She didn’t try to fight him on it, instead grabbing his wrists lightly while turning around to face back out towards the city lights, pulling his arms around her shoulders into a friendlier but still familiar embrace.

It was a compromise. He didn’t have to worry if he was leading her on, and she could still receive some much needed affection.

Adrien relaxed and she felt the weight of his arms settle more heavily against her shoulders. He had always been good at compromising.

“Maybe it’s not something you can really change,” she said quietly although trying to force her usual confident levity into the words. “Perhaps people like you are born good and the rest of us just have to put up with your annoying superiority.”

“I don’t believe that and neither do you,” he countered flatly.

She nodded noncommittally and continued to watch the last fading vestiges of the sunset. For a few minutes they just stood there, listening to the sounds of the city lost in their own thoughts.

“Would you like me better if I was a good person?”

Adrien let out a soft snort of laughter and squeezed her tighter. “You don’t have to pretend for my sake Chloe, I like you just fine the way you are.”

Chloe’s heart soared. He had completely misunderstood her intention- she would never have the patience to fake being nice like that to try and win him over romantically. He’d see right through it anyways. But the unconditional love he offered, platonic though it was, was like a balm to her damaged soul.

She didn’t need to change for him. He didn’t need that in order to love her. But maybe…maybe she _wanted_ to. Perhaps if she tried, she could make him proud of her too.

“I’m serious,” she pouted. “Would it make you happy if I was a better person?”

“Yeah,” he confessed, his voice so soft she could barely hear it over the rustling of the wind. “Yeah it would make me happy.”

She twisted slightly to look at Adrien, his own gaze still trained on the darkening horizon. This poor naïve boy who seemed fated to the worst sort of luck. His beloved mother gone without a trace, his absent father whom he loved so desperately but could never reach through the wall of grief that had arisen after his wife’s loss, a best friend who had never been the sort of good and righteous person that he deserved, forcing him to have to find solace with the lamest, most annoying group of do-gooder dweebs in existence.

And yet somehow he was still willing to keep putting up with all of it.

No wonder he seemed so tired all the time.

Well if he could do all that then she could manage too.

“Ok. I’ll try.”

She could feel her cheeks flush tellingly at the surprised and delighted smile that broke out over his face, the overly large one that exposed that one slightly crooked tooth on his left hand side. The one she selfishly hoped no one else knew about.

“For YOU,” she specified, turning back away from him so he wouldn’t see how affected she was. “Not because it really matters, but because I still owe you a present because of that whole birthday fiasco.”

“Of course,” Adrien agreed lightly, although she could hear the giddy amusement coloring his tone. “I need to get going, they sometimes notice if I am not back for dinner.”

“You could always eat with us, I am sure Daddy wouldn’t mind.”

“Maybe next time.” He gave her an affectionate pat on the shoulder. “I’m really glad you’re ok.” And with a final soft smile I turned and headed towards the entry back into the hotel.

She allowed herself a small smile. It would be worth a little effort to see him happy like this more often.

Besides, it couldn’t be THAT hard to be a decent person.

She could make more of an effort to appreciate Sabrina’s dedication to getting her homework finished on time. She could be a little less vocal about her classmates’ lack of style. She could make a point of giving everyone invitations to this year’s Christmas Gala instead of making Adrien beg her to. She could try to not pick on Mari- well… baby steps.

She could do this. She just needed somewhere to start.

“Adri-honey?” She called out just as he was swinging open the door.

“Yeah?”

Something good, say something good.

“You said that Chat Noir told you I was here right?”

“Yeah?”

She swallowed heavily. “Ladybug mentioned that he had gotten injured in the attack so I just wanted to check… was he ok?”

She forced herself not to look away, to pretend that this was a perfect normal thing for her to care about, even though Adrien knew full well that she had never once asked about anyone’s well-being after an attack, much less shown more than a cursory interest in Ladybug’s sidekick. It was a small thing, barely even an effort. But it was a start.

“Yeah.” Adrien said again, that awkwardly brilliant smile once again lighting his face like the sun. “He’s great.”

**Author's Note:**

> Well that was fun! 
> 
> I am going to be honest I LOVE Chloe Adrien moments and I REALLY hope that we get to see more of their bizarre friendship as we move into the new season. 
> 
> This story is going to be one of several oneshots I do focusing on the more "villainous" characters of the MLB universe. They will all be stand alone pieces (so please don't ask for sequels especially as this is just a filler project while I wait for my computer.) But they will be somewhat tied together in the same universe so to speak so if you like this dynamic there will be other similar works in the series. 
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading! Please leave comments and reviews they cheer me up as I cry for my poor laptop!


End file.
